Our friends over at Epicocity Project — an awesome group of exploratory kayakers and media extraordinaires — just published an excellent article on Smithsonian.com about their Congo River expedition and their interesting scientific findings.

From Smithsonian:

We’re in Central Africa, 90 miles west of the Democratic Republic of Congo’s capital of Kinshasa and about 100 miles east of where the river drains into the Atlantic Ocean, ending its 3,000-mile run across equatorial Africa. A series of grassy hills called the Crystal Mountains rise subtly behind us. Gardiner and John Shelton, a hydrologist from the United States Geologic Survey, are plotting how water moves in such a massive flow. To do this, they brought along an instrument that floats alongside a boat in an orange, plastic vessel about the size of an elementary-school desk. The instrument maps water movement and measures the river’s depth. Gardiner tried to accomplish the same thing last year with a device designed for rivers. “The signal petered out well before the bottom,” he explains, his hand skimming the river’s surface. “So we bought one for oceans.”

We’re midstream, heading from the north bank to the south, on a course directly perpendicular to the current. If we manage to keep the instrument from being swallowed by one of the 40-foot-wide whirlpools studding the flow, Shelton and Gardiner’s work will produce a digital cross section of the river’s currents and depth.

The Congo’s power—its depth, speed and turbulence—is of particular interest to ichthyologist Melanie Stiassny of the American Museum of Natural History, one of the scientists in our expedition. She studies fish on the lower Congo and over the past decade has discovered six new species (she’s working on identifying three more). The number of species known to live in the lower Congo now exceeds 300 and the river contains one of the highest concentrations of “endemism,” or species found nowhere else in the world. Stiassny thinks the river’s power is shaping evolution in the Congo.

Read the whole article here. And check out this amazing POV footage shot while they were paddling.

Après Mobutu, roi du Zaïre et Congo River, le réalisateur belge Thierry Michel poursuit son exploration de l’Afrique centrale.Son nouveau documentaire intitulé Katanga business, sorte de thriller politico-économique, prend pour décor cette province du sud-est de la République démocratique du Congo, l’une des plus riches régions du globe en ressources minières.Pourtant, la population du Katanga continue de vivre dans une pauvreté extrême, tandis que des multinationales se trouvent concurrencées par l’arrivée de la Chine et ses milliards de dollars.

Aqualand situated on the Costa Adeje is a must visit water park for all the family and should not be missed if you want to give the kids a great day out. All you need to visit is your swimming gear a towel and some sun block.

Apart from regular swimming pools, there are numerous water based attractions including the following:

• The Tornado; an accelerating descent turn ride which finishes up in a sort of centrifuge
• The Boomerang; throw yourself down the boomerang and keep coming back!
• The Twister; the tubes rotate around themselves like sticks of candy.
• The Kamikaze; a long open high speed slide.
• The Super Slalom; five slides with plenty of bends as touchdown into the pool
• The Rapids; and open air ride with whirlpools and rapids.
• The Congo River; a leisurely open air ride on a raft.
• The Anaconda; a sharp fall through the tubes.
• The Crazy Race; a soft slide where you can move around.

Every day in the afternoon there is a Dolphin show with fifteen of these amazing fish showing off to the crowd. Amazingly, eleven of the Dolphins were born at Aqualand. This is the kind of place where the kids can let off steam whilst the parents relax if they want too. Everyone will enjoy the Dolphins, even the grand parents.

The support facilities are good with food refreshments and merchandise available. There are areas where you can catch a bit of shade which is often welcome.

See the Aqualand Promotional video.

Make your booking at the best prices with Oasis Excursions on (0034) 922789419

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- Le Rhône, que je contemplais avec humilité l’an dernier, et dont les rives enchanteresses accueillaient avec bienveillance mon footing matutinal, ne suscitera plus chez moi qu’un sourire de commisération, assorti de réflexions discourtoises ; “ça, un fleuve ? allons donc !”. Ceci après avoir passé de longues journées à se frayer un chemin de rive en rive et d’île en île, dans un confort précaire, à une dizaine de centimètres de la surface de l’eau.

- Séjour clandestin dans un pays étranger. C’est amusant. Interpellé par un policier congolais-démocratique, mais il voulait simplement me raconter son séjour en Europe. Moi : “Ah ouais, c’est bien comme ça, on vous laisse voyager chez nous, et vous nous laissez voyager chez vous, hein”. Intérieurement : “Putain, mais grouille-toi gros con, la pirogue m’attend pour repasser sur l’autre rive, j’ai pas de visa, et plus une thune pour acheter ta bienveillance”. Mais Toulouse est sa ville préférée. Nous nous quittons bons amis.

- Passer deux jours dans un village côtier, accompagné en permanence de deux jeunes filles de quinze et seize ans très bien foutues qui manifestent ouvertement leur intention de partager votre lit (et que pour une raison ou pour une autre vous ne pouvez pas envoyer balader), est une expérience singulière. Recommandation au voyageur qui tient à se conformer à la législation en vigueur et à la morale chrétienne : traitement à base d’assistance à la messe et de douches froides. Les plans Matzneff, “quelle spontanéité dans le don de soi chez les Philippines de onze-douze ans” (authentique), c’est pas mon truc. Cela dit, il est certain qu’elles grandissent plus vite ici que chez nous ; c’est peut-être l’ensoleillement, je ne sais pas.

- En quinze jours de voyage, trouvé le temps de lire trois cents pages de Proust. Je commence à aimer. Je suis très content de moi. Je me suis toujours dit qu’apprécier sincèrement Proust (sincèrement, notez-le) était un signe de raffinement et haute culture. Mais c’est sans doute un reste de naïveté scolaire.

- J’étais dans un bled paumé à cinq cent kilomètres de la capitale, sur les rives du Congo, quand j’ai vu sur TV5 Monde les images du 1er mai en France. Les expatriés ont en général tendance à aimer un peu plus leur pays (voyez les Algériens à Paris…), parce que certaines choses leur manquent, etc. Devant ces manifestations, j’ai juste ressenti un profond dégoût, le sentiment que je n’aurais jamais rien à faire avec ces gens-là (ce qui n’est pas vraiment nouveau), mais aussi que sur le plan politique, économique, tout est foutu : que dire à ces gens qui défilent dans la rue en braillant et expliquent aux caméras que “euh, on trouve de l’argent pour les patrons mais pas pour nous, euh, et puis d’abord on veut du Tamiflu” ? On dit souvent, et on n’a peut-être pas tout à fait tort, que les Occidentaux seraient plutôt rationnels, tandis que les Africains feraient passer les sentiments ou les émotions avant la raison. Je veux bien. Mais dans le pays d’Afrique où je vis, les gens de tous milieux savent que s’ils sont dans la merde, c’est à cause de leurs dirigeants, qui sont pour la plupart d’une incompétence rare, et gaspillent au bas mot la moitié du budget national en achats somptuaires (villas, 4 x 4 de luxe, champagne, voyages, entretien d’une clientèle…). En France, excusez-moi si je me trompe, mais la moitié au moins des gens pensent être dans la merde à cause du capitalisme, et exigent que l’Etat intervienne pour “reprendre les choses en main” ? Alors qu’ils voient tous les jours, chez eux et dans la rue, les manifestations diverses du contrôle presque total que, sous ses différentes formes, l’Etat exerce sur la vie sociale et économique, sur l’éducation, la culture ou ce qui en tient lieu, bref, à peu près tout ? Sur ce plan, au moins, les Africains sont les plus rationnels ; à moins que les Occidentaux soient tout simplement rationnels et cons, ce qui n’est pas à exclure.

Today marks Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, and EVERYONE seems to be celebrating.

National Geographic is running a few specials in honor of Darwin.  In case you missed it the first time around (as I did), be prepared to plop yourself in front of the TV from 8-11pm, to watch the series Morphed.

Darwin’s Secret Notebooks will air again on Friday, Feb. 13 at 10pm, and Monster Fish of the Congo will be on again on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7pm.  I did manage to watch Monster Fish of the Congo the first time it aired, and I have to say…it was FREAKIN’ AWESOME!  Let’s just say that the goliath tigerfish (Hydrocynus goliath) could inspire some nightmares…

The show also inspired me to look into reviving my aquarium.  What type of tank, you may ask?  A CONGO RIVER TANK!  It’s been a few years since I have had an aquarium set up, and watching the various fish on the show made me realize just how cool all the congo fish are….bichirs, spiny eels, elephantnose fish, catfish, knifefish, lungfish…the list goes on and on.  I’ve seen them all in the stores and have always admired them, and even had the (brief) pleasure of owning an elephantnose.  I never thought of having a “theme” though.

Now, getting back to Darwin….If you are lucky enough to live in England (and I am OH SO jealous of those of you that do!), then there are Darwin celebrations APLENTY to attend this year!  Darwin200 is a national program of events honoring Darwin’s scientific ideas and their impact.  There are over 300 events over the course of 2009, all celebrating one of the world’s most creative and influential figures.  One featured event is the Darwin: Big Idea Big Exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London. This exhibit will have Darwin’s mockingbirds on display for the FIRST TIME EVER.  You can read all about Darwin’s mockingbirds in my original post.

Today and tomorrow, UPenn  is hosting a free two-day colloquium to celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday.  They are also hosting the third annual Darwin Day and Evolution Teach -In on Sunday, Feb. 15 from 1-4pm, one of many Darwin Day celebrations worldwide.  UPenn’s Darwin Day is just one highlight of Philadelphia’s city-wide Year of Evolution events.

Next month, even my own Hofstra University will be hosting a conference called Darwin’s Reach.

My last note for the day is to tell you to check out the cool stamps commemorating Charles Darwin, courtesy of The Conservation Report.

I was going to tell you this yesterday, but the power was out. From 8am until around 11pm. If you are in the habit of spending your Saturday night watching Congolese television, you probably heard that this was coming.

Kinshasa gets its power from the Inga Dam on the Congo River, located in the western province of Bas Congo and was a baby of the Mobutu regime. The dam was intended to provide power –via a 1700km electrical line- to the mines in Shaba (now Katanga Province) which had secessionist leanings. With one switch, Mobutu could literally turn the lights out on the entire province, thereby theoretically squelching any bad behaviour.

When the dam opened in 1982, it only functioned at 10% capacity. However, if the dam complex were rehabilitated to function at full power, including a new dam site, for a price tag of about $6 billion, it could provide up to 39,000MW of power — enough to supply Africa’s power needs and then some. That’s three times as much as any existing hydroelectric dam. And because the Congo River crosses the equator (twice), part of the river always has rains, maintaining a steady volume of water at the river mouth.

My –probably flawed- understanding of the current situation is that only one of the existing turbines is functioning, which means that if that one goes, we’re all in the dark for some time. Word on the street is that some smarty-pants up river -possibly at the World Bank who is investing in a bit of Inga-remodeling- decided to go ahead and shut down the dam yesterday for maintenance (a word that doesn’t usually exist in this country), leaving Kinshasa without power for a good 12+ hours.

While this certainly isn’t the first time or the last that we’ve been without power on any given day, it’d be nice to think that at some point in the future, more than 5% of Congolese will be able to complain about having their power cut in the first place.